It’s after 5’clock here, as I start tapping away in the dark. It is just the first 5 o’clock of the day and not cocktail hour. The birds are wide awake now and the morning is cool. This is clearly the best time of the day. A little time in the morning goes a long way towards the long rows we all work each day.

Poultry farms are the order of the day and in working on these projects I have found the diversity of people and cultures to be refreshing and fascinating. While there are so many differences in the folks I interact with to buy and sell poultry farms, one thing is true.

They all recognize hard challenging labor, sweat, and sometimes dirty work is worth the outcome of creating opportunity for themselves and their families. I met a young family yesterday looking at a small farm in Delaware. Husband and wife with one small boy no more than two and a 20 year old young man. They were clearly up to the task of taking on this farm operation as they walked and talked inspecting the property. To enter this business there are significant barriers, not the least of which is financial.

It is impressive to see the commitment it takes from families like these folks to make these farms work across the Eastern Shore. I think this was part of the point of what the engineers of this industry envisioned when Mr. Perdue first started the cooperative housing model on the Eastern Shore. He and others that worked to create the poultry industry here on the Shore recognized the value in partnership and grit of Eastern Shore folks. While there is much cynicism about the “factory poultry farm” and the mistrust of the big integrators, at the end of the day, the poultry industry has and continues to create much opportunity for people individually and collectively on the Delmarva.

The sun is clearly up now, and again I worked past my 15 minutes, but I hope today is good for you and that you perhaps think about the family that helped make your nice Memorial Day fried chicken possible. Happy Memorial Day! Be Well.

SVN LAND GROUP

The SVN Land Group is a business unit of SVN Miller Commercial Real Estate formed to focus brokerage and advisory services on land based properties in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. SVN Land Group (SLG) brings together brokers and technical advisors with land specialties in agriculture, forestry, residential & commercial development, poultry farms, as well as hunting and conservation oriented properties. The SVN Land Group mission is to provide a lens of experience in land management, renewable energy and land use decisions for the land owner, farmer, investment group and or recreational buyer to reference in making decisions on how to manage existing land based assets or guide future land investments.